Examining the Racial and Ethnic Socialization of 1.5- and Second-Generation Caribbean American Youth: Negotiating Conflicting Messages Between Home and School

• In Event: What’s the Difference? Considering the Racialization and Identities of Black Immigrants From Middle School Through College

Abstract

PURPOSE
This paper highlights the racial and ethnic socialization messages and practices second-generation Caribbean American youth experience at home and school. Specifically, this paper explores the disjunctures between the mostly ethnic socialization that occurs at home which often frames Blacks in a positive light as compared to the mostly negative messages students received about Blacks at school and how Caribbean American youth negotiate these messages and tensions.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS
The following frameworks shape the analysis of this paper: Critical Race Theory (CRT), Racial Socialization, and Transnationalism. Critical race theorists posit that racism is embedded into the fabric of the United States and masked by institutionalized practices perceived as “neutral” and “objective” (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995). According to Yosso (2002), racism is perpetuated through the very process of schooling in formal and informal ways. Macro and micro forms of racism permeate schools and send messages to students regarding academic and social expectations and students’ worth. To combat the deleterious effects of racism experienced by Black youth, Black parents have historically employed racial and ethnic socialization strategies (Stevenson et al., 2005). Peters (1985), regards racial socialization as “the responsibility of raising physically and emotionally healthy children who are Black in a society where Black has a negative connotation” (p. 161). Although Black American parents have historically engaged in racial/ethnic socialization in response to the racial climate of the U.S., Black immigrant parents have less experience with racial socialization and instead engage in socialization informed by transnational perspectives. These frameworks account for the racial climate of the U.S. and the ways that transnational lenses of a growing immigrant population interrupt traditional forms of racial and ethnic socialization in the U.S.

METHODS AND DATA SOURCES
The study took place in a mixed-race middle class community near a large urban center on the east coast. Approximately 700 students are enrolled at Morristown Middle School. The study took place over the course of two years and explored the experiences of ten students and nine families. Qualitative research methods such as ethnographic note taking, formal and informal interviews, focus groups, and the collection of artifacts were used to capture how Caribbean American youth and parents make meaning of their experiences. All data sources were coded and triangulated to compare data that emerged from different phases of the study.

RESULTS
Findings from this study revealed that (i) transnational realities critically shaped the socialization practices of immigrant parents; (ii) schools play an essential role in the racial socialization of Caribbean American youth, and (iii) disjunctures between socialization messages received at home and school uniquely positioned Caribbean American youth to critically interrogate issues of race and negotiate complex identities.

SCHOLARLY SIGNIFICANCE
These findings illuminate the need to further interrogate the ill-effects of binary racial constructions that obstruct the formation of multifaceted identities and further alienate the growing population of immigrant children in U.S. schools. This paper also shares recommendations for addressing the needs of immigrant youth in schools – needs that often go unnoticed in educational practice and research.

Author

• Chonika Coleman-King, The University of Tennessee